BHOPAL � Sunday � March 8 � 2015

■ By Arun Kumar

THERE are number of welfareschemes to improve the lives ofwomen. The Government of Indiaand State Government spendscrores of rupees for welfareschemes. The State and CentralGovernment offices, especiallythose are supposed to be madeto implement the welfareschemes for women, are thesedays engaged in finalising manyprogrammes on InternationalWomen’s Day on March 8.

Even, the State Governmenthas made a separate departmentas Women Empowerment exclu-sively to run welfare schemes

about two years ago. But still thecondition of women has notchanged. They may be seen beg-ging to eke out living of their fam-ily but the Government does notmake any scheme of projects tosuch women so that they mightleave begging and live arespectable life.

According to sources, there areabout 10,000 such women inBhopal, Indore, Gwalior, Jabalpur,Ujjain and about all the districtswho are forced to live on foot-path and begging.

Not only WomenEmpowerment Department, butthere is also one moreGovernment department as

Social Justice Department, but ithas also failed to do justice withhapless women. It has also manyschemes but only on papers. TheGovernment sanctioned croresof rupees budget but the officersdo ever think to improve the liv-ing condition of those womenand girls who are far from thebenefit of the welfare schemesstarted for them.

The women and girls at all agegroups might be seen beggingthe whole day in front of temples,at market places, bus stands, nearthe railway stations etc. Everyyear, both the WomenEmpowerment and Social Justicedepartments celebrateInternational Women’s Day byorganising various programmes,inviting top ranking women in allthe fields art and culture, busi-ness, sports, politics and socialworks, they deliver lengthyspeeches in the AC rooms.

Govt of India did not sanctionshelter homes: It is learnt thatthe Government of India was tosanction shelter homes for the

state but it has not yet done sounder the Nirbhaya project toprovide protection to the women.The State Women’sEmpowerment Department isstill waiting. The aim of the shel-ter homes under Nirbhaya wasto give shelter to hapless andhelpless women, making allarrangements of their lodging and

boarding and make them self-dependent.

The little girls at all age groupspicking waste: Those little girlswho should have in schools aremay be seen picking waste doorto door. The school educationdepartment, that claims of ensur-ing registration of every child inschool, might does not count

them or do not consider them toeducate under the SarvaSaksharta Abhiyan.

When contacted, KalpanaShrivastava, Commissioner,Women Empowerment, saidsome shelter homes’ scheme forwomen in the state is yet to beapproved by the Government ofIndia under its Nirbhaya project.

The work of improving status ofthose women and girls beggingbefore temples or in market isunder the Social JusticeDepartment, she said.

The Social Justice Departmentofficers said they have no suchscheme to improve living condi-tions of women begging beforetemples or elsewhere.

INDUSTRIAL POLLUTION AFFECTING BIODIVERSITY OF BHIMBETKA WORLD HERITAGE SITE!■ By Tara Chettur

THE rich biodiversity of rock terrainarea of Bhimbetka world heritage sitewhich were one of the chief reasons forattracting early man to make theirabode is under gradual declination.Now a days even to spot the regularrocky terrain bird species like larks onehas to struggle. The world heritage site is located at about45 km south east of Bhopal on the roadto Hoshangabad. The site is known forrock shelters of Palaeolithic period.

Dr Subash C Pandey,Environmentalist, claims that theMandideep Industrial area is hardly10-15 km from this world heritage site,the impact on flora and fauna isinevitable but there is no comprehen-sive environmental study undertakenyet to study the impact.

As per the guidelines of Ministry ofEnvironment and Forest (MoEF) allecosensitive areas must be developed25 km away from the industrial set up

and world heritage sites come sundereco sensitive area which needs to begiven special attention. Shomy Gupta,bird lover, says occasionally lesser gold-en back wood pecker are seen in thepremises, the number of birds visiblehave been reduced to larks. For reduc-tion in number of beehives, changesin floral morphology could be reason.This has also affected the sighting ofgreen bee eater.

Suraj Singh, one of the locals deployedin site, says that there are total sevenguards to look after and whenever thewild animals like bear and leopard areseen forest guards are called. The paint-ings of rock shelter at number 8 areexclusive, earlier Indian fruit bats wereseen in good number in these areas butnot now.

Syed Akhthat Hussain, 75, historianwho also claims to done research onBhimbetka says that exclusive varietiesof spiders, snakes, honey bees, bats, wereavailable in the rock terrain some 15years back as well. The wild bear, jack-

als, tigers and leopards from nearbyRatapani Sanctuary were also commonsighting. The entire food chain ecosys-tem was available in the region.Untimely rains in March affected theecology of rocky terrain food and nestsites for insectivorous birds.

Pandey has also filed petition chal-lenging the compilation of environ-mental norms and regulations byMandideep Industrial Area at NationalGreen Tribunal. As per the petitionmore than 375 companies in the regionare violating environment norms. Greenpanel has also directed the StateGovernment to inform about installa-tion of continuous monitoring systemfor monitoring ambient air quality atMandideep Industrial Area (MIA) whichis discharging effluents to Betwa river.But the environment assessment studyto look at the impact on biodiversity isa subject which no department is readyto undertake.

The Archaeology Department hasmade their point of view clear that it

would be vague to co relate effectsindustrial pollution on world heritagesite unless study is being done. NarayanVyas, Retd SuperintendingArchaeologist from ArchaeologicalSurvey of India says that the impact onthe structure can be studied only afterdetail analysis of sampling of rock shel-ters. Like the work carried out for TajMahal conservation; the technicalmethod can only be a solution to under-stand the impact on rock paints androck shelters .However for environ-mental impact on Biodiversity a detailstudy can bring in some aspects aboutthe problem.

Earlier, Green panel had also orderedthe State that to not to lease grant forestablishment of any further industriesuntil the master plan is finalised.

Experts says that any developmentof city plan should be done after environment assessment of that areaas effect on single species of food chain brings in entropy in entire ecosystem .

A local employee pointing to reduction in bee hive sightings in one of the shelters.

Untimelyrains inMarch

affected theecology of

rocky terrain

Lessergolden backWoodpeckerspotted in

rock shelter

WELFARE SCHEMES FOR WOMEN, HUGE BUDGET FAIL TO TRANSFORM THEIR LIVES■■ In State, more than 10,000 women live in

misery, begging to feed their family■■ Women Empowerment Department

not doing anything■■ Under the Nirbhaya project,

shelter homes yet to be approved by the Government of India

Office of Women’s Empowerment Department. Beggars near a temple.